Office: Faculty Offices 102

Telephone: 408-924-4425

Email: english@sjsu.edu

Website: www.sjsu.edu/english

Professors

Angela Noelle Brada-Williams, Chair
Adrienne Eastwood
Katherine Harris
Revathi Krishnaswamy
Richard McNabb
Kathleen McSharry
Linda Mitchell
Thomas Moriarty
Alan Soldofsky
Nancy P. Stork
Nicholas Taylor
Mary Warner

Associate Professors

Keenan Norris
Mark Thompson
​Ryan Skinnell

Assistant Professors

Selena Anderson
Meghan Gorman-DaRif
Scott Jarvie
​Allison Johnson
J. Michael Martinez
Maite Urcaregui
Jose Juan Villagrana
Sara West

Overview

Study with award-winning teachers and professional writers. Develop editing and production skills by working on Reed Magazine, one of the oldest literary journals in the West. Prepare for a variety of careers in teaching, career and technical writing, or advanced study in English, law and medicine. The Department of English and Comparative Literature offers programs in English, American, world, and comparative literature, and creative and professional writing. Our MA prepares students for teaching careers or doctoral studies. Our MFA in creative writing trains professional writers in the history and craft of poetry, creative nonfiction, fiction, script- and screen-writing. Home to the Steinbeck Fellows and the Lurie Visiting Distinguished Author programs, the department also houses the Center for Literary Arts, which brings distinguished poets, fiction writers and creative nonfiction writers to campus to give public readings.

Undergraduate Honors Program

Upper-division students with a minimum grade point average of 3.0 overall and 3.5 in the major are eligible for Departmental Honors. Honors students complete an ENGL 190 - Honors Colloquium . Application to the honors program should be made through the English Department Office.

Programs

• English, BA
• English, Creative Writing Concentration, BA
• English, Preparation for Teaching (Single Subject), BA
• English, Professional and Technical Writing Concentration, BA

• Comparative Literature Minor
• Creative Writing Minor
• Literature Minor
• Professional and Technical Writing Minor

• Creative Writing, MFA
• English, MA

Two types of certificates are available: Advanced Certificates  and Basic Certificates . The description of each certificate program identifies the type of certificate. 

• Professional and Technical Writing Certificate

Courses

• COLT 121 - Introduction to Comparative Literature
• COLT 122 - Topics in Comparative World Literature
• COLT 192 - International Program Studies

• ENGL 1A - First Year Writing
• ENGL 1AF - First-Year Writing: Stretch English I
• ENGL 1AS - First-Year Writing: Stretch English II
• ENGL 1B - Argument and Analysis
• ENGL 2 - Critical Thinking and Writing
• ENGL 10 - Great Works of Literature
• ENGL 20 - The Graphic Novel
• ENGL 21 - Mystery and Detective Fiction
• ENGL 22 - Fantasy and Science Fiction
• ENGL 30 - Literature and the Environment
• ENGL 40 - Contemporary World Fiction
• ENGL 50 - Beginnings to the American Experiment
• ENGL 60 - Literatures of the Atlantic World, 1680‐1860
• ENGL 70 - Emerging Modernisms and Beyond
• ENGL 71 - Creative Writing
• ENGL 78 - Introduction to Shakespeare’s Drama
• ENGL 92 - International Program Studies
• ENGL 96RWS - Integrating Reading and Writing
• ENGL 100A - Writing Competency Through Genres
• ENGL 100W - Writing Workshop
• ENGL 100WB - Written Communication: Business
• ENGL 101 - Introduction to Literary Criticism
• ENGL 103 - Modern English
• ENGL 105 - Seminar in Advanced Composition
• ENGL 106 - Editing for Writers
• ENGL 107 - Professional Technical Writing
• ENGL 108 - Gaming and Narrative
• ENGL 109 - Writing and the Young Writer
• ENGL 110 - Visual Rhetoric and Digital Document Design for Writers
• ENGL 111 - Writing Online: Strategic Digital Content and Social Media
• ENGL 112A - Children’s Literature
• ENGL 112B - Literature for Young Adults
• ENGL 113 - Gothic and Horror Fiction
• ENGL 115 - The Bible as Literature
• ENGL 116 - Myth in Literature
• ENGL 117A - American Literature, Film, & Culture
• ENGL 117B - Global Film, Literature, and Cultures
• ENGL 120 - Theatre History
• ENGL 121 - Introduction to Comparative Literature
• ENGL 122 - Topics in Comparative World Literature
• ENGL 123A - Literature for Global Understanding-The Americas
• ENGL 123B - Literature for Global Understanding-Africa
• ENGL 123C - Literature for Global Understanding-Oceania
• ENGL 123D - Literature for Global Understanding-Asia
• ENGL 125 - European Literature: Homer through Dante
• ENGL 126 - Holocaust Literature
• ENGL 127 - Contemporary Theatre
• ENGL 128 - Scriptwriting
• ENGL 129 - Introduction to Career Writing
• ENGL 130 - Writing Fiction
• ENGL 131 - Writing Poetry
• ENGL 133 - Reed Magazine
• ENGL 135 - Writing Nonfiction
• ENGL 139 - Visiting Authors
• ENGL 140A - Old English
• ENGL 140B - Beowulf
• ENGL 141 - Medieval Literature
• ENGL 142 - Chaucer
• ENGL 144 - Shakespeare I
• ENGL 145 - Shakespeare and Performance
• ENGL 146 - Studies-Early Modern British Literature
• ENGL 147 - Milton
• ENGL 149 - The Romantic Period
• ENGL 150 - The Victorian Age
• ENGL 151 - 20th and 21st Century Poetry
• ENGL 153 - Studies in the British Novel Before 1900
• ENGL 156 - Black Women Writers: Race, Culture and Resistance
• ENGL 157 - Topics in Rhetorical Analysis
• ENGL 162 - Studies-American Literature Before 1865
• ENGL 163 - American Literature: 1865-1945
• ENGL 165 - Topics in Ethnic American Literature
• ENGL 166 - American Literature Since 1945
• ENGL 167 - Steinbeck
• ENGL 168 - The American Novel
• ENGL 169 - Ethnicity in American Literature
• ENGL 172 - The Arts in U.S. Society
• ENGL 173 - Thinking About Contemporary World Arts
• ENGL 176 - The Short Story
• ENGL 177 - Topics in Fiction Since 1900
• ENGL 178 - Creative Nonfiction
• ENGL 180 - Individual Studies
• ENGL 181 - Special Topics
• ENGL 182 - Women, Gender, and Sexuality in Literature
• ENGL 183 - Major Authors
• ENGL 184 - Queer Literary Studies
• ENGL 190 - Honors Colloquium
• ENGL 192 - International Program Studies
• ENGL 199 - Writing Internship
• ENGL 201 - Materials and Methods of Literary Research
• ENGL 202 - Poetic Craft and Theory
• ENGL 203 - Narrative Craft and Theory
• ENGL 204 - Seminar in Modern Approaches to Literature
• ENGL 208 - Seminar in Comparative Literature
• ENGL 211 - Seminar in Twentieth Century Poetry
• ENGL 215 - Seminar in Myth and Symbolism
• ENGL 216 - Seminar in Medieval English Literature
• ENGL 224 - Studies in English Early Modern Literature
• ENGL 225 - Seminar in Shakespeare